Originally commissioned by The Barbican and performed in their foyers last Christmas, Slung Low bring their critically acclaimed, 59 Minutes to Save Christmas, to the North for the first time for a run at Cast this Christmas. Running from 14 – 23 December, this interactive headphone adventure takes young explorers on a journey around the building in an attempt to save Christmas from the evil Professor Meanwood!

There’s a military emergency at Cast and General Crisis with his Royal Yuletide Regiment are on the hunt for Professor Meanwood, who has been spreading an anti-Christmas potion throughout the town. General Crisis has only 59 minutes to find him before the whole town is affected. The clock is ticking and he needs help to stop the potion, thankfully the children of Doncaster have arrived to help. Cue an adventure throughout Cast involving contaminated fairies, an elf who is breaking, not making toys, and a trail of pink smoke. But is it too late to save Christmas? And why is Professor Meanwood trying to cancel it anyway? 59 Minutes to Save Christmas is an interactive journey for intrepid adventurers and brave parents (who might be useful for reaching the high stuff).

Slung Low is the award winning new work company based in 5 railway arches in South Leeds, The Holbeck Underground Ballroom. Specialising in making work in unusual spaces Slung Low has worked with The Almeida

Theatre, The Barbican, The Lowry, The Gate Theatre, Liverpool Everyman Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Singapore Arts Festival, iMove Yorkshire Cultural Olympiad and I Love West Leeds Festival to produce original audience experiences. We’ve made shows on trains, in castles and shopping centres, with speed boats and on milk floats, in theatre foyers and through multi-storey car parks. Most recently we opened Doncaster’s new theatre Cast with a ceremony of parables about the benefits of the arts. We believe in making adventures for audiences that are exciting and affordable, theatre for everyone not just people who already know they love it.

59 Minutes to save Christmas is part of Cast’s varied Christmas programme. December also sees the building’s very first pantomime – Cinderella. Originally written by Joel Horwood and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm for The Lyric, Hammersmith in 2012, Cast’s first Christmas production has been relocated to Doncaster by South Yorkshire-based actor and writer, Fine Time Fontayne. Directed by Kully Thiarai, audiences should expect a fun-filled, proper pantomime – with the addition of tunes from The Black Eyed Peas, and Lady GaGa, live music, and, of course, a good helping of ‘Doncaster-ness’! Running from 5 – 31 December. Alongside this audiences can enjoy comedy from Cast Comedy Club (Fri 20 Dec), Mister B The Gentleman Rhymer (Thu 12 Dec) and Red Dwarf star Norman Lovett (Sat 14 Dec). There’s also a festive brass band concert from Hatfield Colliery Band (Sun 15 Dec) and a dramtic reading of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (Sat 21 Dec).

Cast – Doncaster’s new theatre – opened its doors on Friday 6 September, since then over 17,000 people have been through the doors of the town’s cultural living room. Cast is the flagship element of Doncaster’s new £300 million Civic and Cultural Quarter. Operated by an independent trust, the building is jointly funded by Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council and Arts Council England.